Game plans London stock market return with IPO while B&M and Zoopla prepare float plans this week

Video game retailer Game is returning to London's main stock exchange just two years after it was delisted following its collapse into administration.

The move comes as the market for international public offerings (IPOs) continues to be tested, with two other groups also expected to confirm float plans this week.

The swift turnaround at Game comes after administrators and its new owners shut around half of the outlets to scale back a costly store base which, coupled with heavy competition from online rivals, helped lead to its demise.

Float ahead: Game, which has 560 stores and a database of over 19million customers, also plans to use the offering to raise its profile.

The listing of a stake of at least 35 per cent before the end of June is expected to value the company, which now has 327 stores in the UK and 233 in Spain, where it did not file for administration, at around £400million.

‘The turnaround of the Game business is remarkable,’ said its chairman David Hamid. ‘Game in the UK has been transformed and strengthened, while Game in Spain has proved its resilience.’

The company, to be renamed Game Digital for the initial public offering (IPO), made £50.8million in underlying earnings in the six months to the end of January, which is double the £24.5million it made the year before, on revenues of £586.4million.

But the company said a focus on training staff and customer loyalty programmes, as well as leveraging on its brand heritage, has helped it adapt to the ever-changing retail landscape.

It claims to have around a third of the market for new video game content, hardware and accessories in both the UK and Spain.

The UK and Spanish video games market were estimated to be worth £4.7billion in 2013.

The group also sees growing opportunity in the sale of pre-owned content. According to consultants OC&C, it had a 39 per cent share of the pre-owned physical content market in 2013.

Game chief executive Martyn Gibbs said: ‘The business is now well set to capitalise on the growing market for gaming content, whether digital or physical, new or pre-owned.

‘A public listing will support our long-term strategy as we develop our digital offering in all our channels.’

The chain, which has 560 stores and a database of over 19million customers, also plans to use the offering to raise its profile.

Although there will be share offer for retail investors, with the IPO just via institutions, Game intends to issue £2million of ‘virtual’ shares to 18,000 of its loyalty programme members, which gamers can exchange for reward points.

Game has 16 million reward card customers, behind only supermarket group Tesco and drugstore chain Boots in the loyalty card stakes.

Game will be joining a flood of retail firms that have been scrambling to join the London stock market this year, cashing in on an improving UK economy and investor’s greater appetite for share issues, albeit with mixed results.

European IPO volumes are at their highest level since 2007.

Among the winners have been online electrical appliances retailer AO.com and online fashion firm Boohoo, both of which have seen their share prices jump.

But less impressive performances have come from more traditional retailers such as discount stores chain Poundland, Pets at Home, bakery chain Patisserie Holdings despite widespread interest before their listings.

B&M, which runs discount stores and counts Sir Terry Leahy, the former chief executive of Tesco, as its chairman, is expected to seek a market valuation of more than £2billion this week, allowing Clayton Dubilier & Rice, its American private equity owner, to cash out.

Meanwhile, Zoopla, a property website that is majority owned by Daily Mail and General Trust, is expected to aim for a valuation of more than £1billion and could announce its intention to float on Thursday, when the media group reports its interim results.